Reflections on my Positive Timeshare Experience

by Marcia Ling - FTOG Board Member

This was a presentation given at
the most recent Florida
Timeshare Owners Group
meeting in Sarasota Florida on March 29 2014. It was so
fantastic, I felt that all TUGGERS would want to read it as well!

When Frank asked me
to
present a topic at this meeting, I said what will I talk about? Then I
said to
Frank, frankly I’ve not gotten that much out of
that portion of our
meetings. Frank made some suggestions, that you see here on the agenda,
and I
said, “OK why not?”

When I thought about why I
hadn’t found the topics presented very helpful, it occurred to me that
many
times they were of a negative nature ~

I’ve got this timeshare and I never
really wanted it but I can’t get rid of it

I can’t ever get the exchanges I
want

You mean I can actually exchange my
week to go somewhere else?

I was talked into points that I
don’t know what to do with – I never knew what
to do with weeks either

That led me to my topic
presentation today – concentrating on the POSITIVES OF
TIMESHARING

I first bought a TS week in
1986 and it was a secondary market purchase – I wasn’t talked into it
by some
slick salesman – therefore I’ve never felt like I bought something I
didn’t want
or need. I had done the research. I bought a TS that was floating time,
a 2
bedroom unit, in a multi-destination resort, and it’s an accrual week –
to me all
positive features. I picked up a 2nd week about
6 years later.

Some people buy with the intent
of always trading and have never gone to their own resort. I think
that’s a
mistake. I bought locations that, if for some reason I could NEVER
trade, I
would be happy to go to – the mountains and the seashore. Buy where you
want to
go and what you’re proud to own.

About 8 years later I somehow
discovered TimeSharing Today and subscribed – my 1st issue was #12,
Spring of
1993, and I have been a subscriber ever since. When I moved to FL in
the early
2000s, TST led me to the FTOG and Frank. I joined in 2005 when they had
had
just one meeting – the first speaker I heard was Lisa Ann Schreier.

Many timesharers don’t know
they have other exchange choices besides “the big 2.” TST and the FTOG
tell you
differently.TST
taught me that I had
other choices and that they were less expensive, more flexible, smaller
and
easier to deal with.

Guest
speakers here have
been from DAE, Platinum Interchange, Trading Places, and more recently
Crown
Vacation Exchange. These could be called “the Fab 4.” TST publishes a
chart of major
and alternative exchange companies annually. The alternatives don’t
have hidden
trading power and unseen inventory. What you see is what you
CAN get, and so much more!

The 1st
three I
mentioned have lists of their inventory online. I like to see what
sorts of
places each has available and channel my requests to the one that seems
to have
more of what I’m looking for, and that varies with each one. Don’t
think that
what you see is all they can get for you; call and talk to someone
about what
you’re looking for. And when you call back you can actually talk to the
same
person! There’s no membership fee and some don’t require you to
relinquish your
week to start an ongoing search. (And I’ve also learned that they
sometimes
trade among themselves or do each other favors to accommodate their
clients!)

My exchanges have taken me
skiing from the obvious CO and UT to my home resort at Lake Tahoe to
NM, ID, WY,
the Northeast and Canada; to the seashores of both FL coasts, the
Panhandle and
the Atlantic coast; to back to back weeks on the beaches of 2 of the HI
islands; to TX, AZ, the Caribbean, VA, the NC mountains, and most
recently the
Napa Valley of CA. I’ve never had a bad experience – some resorts are
better
than others, and I’ve exchanged into some extremely nice places.

My timeshare weeks’ initial
purchase paid for themselves a long time ago. My current annual fees
for a
multi room unit are comparatively less than what a single hotel room
would
cost.

This brings me to my
recommendations

Never get your heart set on just
one resort – look for an interesting area